The Samurai, a novel by Japanese Catholic author Shusaku Endo, is set in Japan in the early 1600s during the height of Christian persecution, when Japanese Christians were expelled from the country, sent into hiding or tortured, and then executed by the shogunal authorities. In reading the characters’ ambition and sacrifice, we consider our own. The Christian faith is despised by the authorities, but Spanish missionary Father Pedro Velasco is tolerated because of his usefulness as an interpreter. He is therefore indispensable to the father of the Shogun, who had long been searching for a direct way to trade with Nueva Espana, without having to go through other lands.
Hasekura Rokuemon is the duty-bound samurai, who has been ordered to travel to Nueva Espana along with Father Velasco. He had never met foreigners and was suspicious of Christian missionary zeal, but was somehow to spend the next two months on a ship with foreign and Japanese sailors, deckhands and merchants.
Yozo looked up for the first time.
‘Do you believe in Christianity?’ the samurai asked quietly.
‘Yes.’ Yozo answered.
‘Tell no one.’ Yozo nodded.
Throughout their journey, these companions set foot on new lands, experience new cultures, and must confront the bitterness of their (and others’) ambitions. Based on a true story, The Samurai by Shusaku Endo is a must read for all believers. Written through the perspective of Father Velasco who is overcome by a passion to share the faith, The Samurai is a story of relationships: with brethren, with adversaries, with our own emotions, but mostly, with Christ and His will, which we may struggle to understand.
PRAYER
Dear Lord, in our passion to serve you, we often get caught up in our own ambition and competition, sometimes thinking only of ourselves. Help us to do our part, but more importantly, trust you to carry out your plan. Help us to understand your ways and to give you the glory. In the name of our Lord, amen.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Samurai is a fictional novel based on the diaries and reports of the samurai Hasekura Rokuemon and Father Luis Sotelo (Velasco in the novel) found in Japan and Europe.